


Fool Me Once

by CatsShadow



Series: Girls Interrupted [6]
Category: Amar a Muerte (TV)
Genre: F/F, Juliantina
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-07
Updated: 2019-05-07
Packaged: 2020-02-27 21:10:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18747181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CatsShadow/pseuds/CatsShadow
Summary: Luc... may I see? She entreated, reaching out her hand.Lo siento, Juliana. Lucia whispered as she passed her the phone.***************2,500 miles away...Eva ROARED.[Picks up where Homemade Karaoke leaves off!]





	Fool Me Once

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kiarcheo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiarcheo/gifts).



> Thanks to everyone who challenged me to write Eva and Val's responses to the selfie heard round the world!
> 
> Still in Crack fic universe following the AU from To the Ends of the Earth (https://archiveofourown.org/works/17577593/chapters/43960024) by xychedelics. Picks up after Chapter 13.... Homemade Karaoke is very helpful for context!

JULIANA! 

Juliana spun on her heel and rushed towards the closed bedroom door. 

I HAVE TO LEAVE MEXICO... RIGHT NOW!!

She yanked the door open to a stricken faced Lucia.

Que Lucia? Que pasa? As Juls approached she noticed the phone in Lucia's trembling hands and the bright sheen of unshed tears threatening to spill from her eyes.

Luc... may I see? She entreated, reaching out her hand.

Lo siento, Juliana. Lucia whispered as she passed her the phone.

***************

2,500 miles away...

Eva ROARED.

Startled awake at 1:00 in the morning to a social media posting notification from her drunk EX GIRLFRIEND was NOT what she needed right now. 

Engaging was foolish, it would only fuel the upcoming media circus. Even thousands of miles from and no longer welcome in her Mexico City home she could not escape the public's fascination with all things Carvajal. No less than 10 responses flew across her keyboard and were deleted before she could stop them. Her thumb hesitated over send as she took a breath. Gently settings her phone down she pinched the bridge of her nose and evaluated the stress headache building behind her eyes. She was reacting emotionally; she needed to take a beat. In the crowded chaos of her thoughts, she heard her mothers voice whisper advice she had needed so many times it slipped like softened leather through her mind. Eva, mi amor, the only way out of your head is one step at a time. Heaving one more heavy sigh, she leveled a lingering glance at her phone as she slid out of bed padding across the chilly floor to grab her running gear from her dresser. 

Running was an escape for Eva. After she finally won the mental exercise pushing past her body's instinct to protest, the rhythm of her feet had carried her thoughts to countless solutions. Today was another experience though, instead of the typical struggle to convince herself to keep putting one foot in front of the other, it took 10 minutes of nearly sprinting to burn down her emotions enough to settle into a thinking pace. 

She rounded a corner in her neighborhood and spotted a limestone cross illuminated by a spotlight...

Eva's innocence died the day her mother didn't wake up. The oldest of three, she found herself and her siblings adrift in the turbulent wake of their shattered father, surrounded by people paid to care for them but none who loved them. 

Her brother and sister were devastated. Quiet Guille withdrew so far, any further and Eva was sure he'd vanish. She spent months sleeping on the floor next to his bed to hold him when he woke up screaming, rubbing his back the same way their mother had when she had calmed his night terrors. Thank God the cat kept him company during the day because baby Valentina had an even harder time. Repeatedly trying to explain death to a four year old and watching the slow dawning of understanding that her Mama was never coming back was torture. Hour after hour of soul shaking sobs wracked her tiny frame and often Eva felt her arms hugged firm around her were the only thing holding her together. Her abandonment despair was further exacerbated by their father's retreat into the distraction of endless days of work. Eva's family needed her, so she pushed her grief aside and stepped up. 

Being needed became the glue of Eva's reality. As Guille and Val grew they needed her less. Occationally they still came to her for advice, but more often than not chaffed at their older sister mothering them. They didn't understand... blocked out so much of the pain around their mother's death that they couldn't remember Eva's sacrifices for them. 

It took years for Leon to heal enough to be around his children and even through his frequent absences, Leon recognized Eva's potential. He saw her self-discipline and ferocious leadership in her schooling and for her siblings. An undeserved pride welled in chest and he started planning for Eva.

With her father's interest and her siblings independence, Eva's focus changed. The Carvajal group consumed her completely.

Everyday of her life she worked to please her father and honor the Carvajal legacy. She chose subjects of practicality over passion and poured herself into the mold of heir apparent to the Carvajal empire. Her dedication and exceptionalism became expected and her image of Carvajal golden girl became her prison. Even though she sacrificed everything, it was never enough. 

Then something unexpected happened... rather someone... Lucia. 

Eva's first instinct was to compete. She layered on all her preparation for her destiny like armor... but Lucia didn't fight...

Petite, insightful, passionate, spitfire Lucia Borges decided to see Eva... for who she was not just what she could do. Her patient exploration of their friendship helped Eva get to know herself... she'd never considered that what she wanted mattered because she knew that she could provide what others needed. Their conversations carried her from competitor to friend to something so much more... it marked Eva's head and heart in a way no one else in the world ever had.

Fate was cruel to bring Lucia's love at the cost of her family. Eva's eyes still stung with tears everytime she pictured the twisted disgust on her father's face. Eva asserting herself for love should not have been grounds for exile from everyone she ever loved and all that she worked for. 

Eva thought fleeing from her family home was the lowest moment of her life. She was wrong. Losing Lucia over the phone... because of her own insecurities and weakness... was the only moment of her life so dark that it rivaled the pain of her mother's death.

Broken and bruised, she lost herself. No one needed her, and without the distraction of her purpose her strangled grip on her grief slipped and she finally had to feel it. Alone. 

It was horrible, but the long road out of that emotional rock bottom forged her into a survivor (she unconsciously rubbed the semi-colon tattooed on the inside of her wrist). Eva rebuilt herself and the Carvajal name in a new country with only her grit and pride fueling every step. 

Eva closed her eyes at the keen memory of how painful it is to rise from a fall from grace. 

The reds and pinks of dawn were breaking over the horizon as Eva's footsteps slowed as she approached her building. 

Her chest heaved as she caught her breath and went through the motions of her cool down.

The photo from the post floated through her mind Eva frowned as she pictured the details... Ay Eva! How could you be so BLIND!? She had to check.. she had to KNOW. 

Eva ran to the stairs, not trusting herself to wait for the elevator. She burst through her apartment door and snatched her phone from the night stand. Looking at the photo she saw it... clear as day. 

Wow. [Send]

Minutes later she was in a cab to the airport with a text to Valentina telling her to pack her bags. She was picking her up in 6 hours. 

The Carvajal Women were going HOME.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I love your comments/kudos/feedback!
> 
> Please stay tuned for the final installment... 😉😉😉😉😉


End file.
